Terran Assualt
by Zeta Ockham
Summary: Story of Keith and his squads mission to a Protoss base.
1. Chapter 1

The rumbling of the drop ships mighty engines faded to the background as Keith Torwa thought about the coming battle. The marines in the surrounding crash chairs were either praying or attempting to sleep before the drop ship doors opened. Keith could not remember why he was sitting in the sweat stained, battle scarred battle armor waiting to face the Zerg hordes when the doors opened. He was still a raw recruit, having been chosen to serve in this proven unit because of his outstanding scores during the brutal training that the Marine Corps put all new recruits through. The seven other marines in his squad did not like having this "wet-behind-the-ears baby" with them on this important mission. It was important because the higher ups wanted to prove that 12th Company could be a useful addition to the Regular Infantry.

This was not a normal mission though. It was considered a suicide mission by some and that no one who was sent out on it would return, not even the drop ship pilots were expected to return. Keith absently rubbed the worn grip on his rifle. He dropped into a revere and thought about what his parents would be doing at home. In his minds' eye he could see his little sister playing with the dogs in the front yard and his mom sweeping the porch to get rid of the unwanted dirt. His father was in the barn fixing the thresher machine again as the air intakes where always getting clogged with dirt and grime from the strong winds.

A loud crackle from the intercom mounted to the inside of Keith's helmet woke him from the brief revere he had been enjoying. It was the squad leader, Theo "Phantom" Yourk, a veteran of many battles. He had been serving the Marine Corps since before the Kerrigan Betrayal and had seen everything from the massive Zerg Ultralisks to the fearsome Protoss Dark Templar. His second in command, a man by the name of Peath, was a nightmarish sight. Peath was covered with scars from his many run-ins with the prolific Zerglings and was missing his left eye. This was, as the story goes, from a nasty encounter with a Protoss Zealot who refused to die.

These two impressive individuals were leading a squad of mostly proven men. The remaining five had at least seen some sort of combat, whether it had been against the Protoss infractions or the formidable Zerg Horde. Pat "Fort" Des'clar was a previous siege tank pilot and competent with any kind of heavy weapon. The only reason he was here now was because his former commanding officer had busted him down to infantry after a bad bar fight in which he had beat five men senseless, two of them being higher ranked tank commanders. So he was forced to join this squad on their mission as the heavy fire support.

Next was an enigmatic man who never really talked much. He went by the name Phear and was always an ominous presence to have around. When the guys had hit the bars and brothels the night before, they never saw him with a woman. No one really knew much about him except that he had served in the Ghosts before Kerrigan had been turned into a Zerg. Phear was the long range support and an excellent hand-to-hand fighter.

The man sitting next to Keith was the one who had "adopted" him when he was first transferred into the unit. Durk "Old Man" Thras was the oldest of the group and had served with Theo since he had saved Durk's ass on Reer when the Zerg overran their base. That was the act that got Theo promoted to squad leader and he had chosen to stay at this position, giving up the many promotions that had been offered to him. Durk had also given up on the many promotions offered to him so that he could stay with Theo. Durk is the only one who can call "Phantom" Theo. This is because of their long standing friendship and camaraderie.

The other two Marines in the drop ship were not your usually grunts and had been handpicked for the mission. They had showed up the night before liftoff, so the rest of the squad had not gotten the chance to become better acquainted with the two. The one sitting directly across from Keith was a former criminal that had volunteered for the Marine Corps when he was caught by police. Instead of facing jail and the horrors that went on in those hell holes, he went to the place that was only a little better. He was the expendable one in the squad. The guy that was looked to if something extremely suicidal need done.

The other one sitting next to him was not your typical Marine. In fact the Marine was a woman who had seen her fair share of bloodshed. She was "Click", the squads' communications expert. Click could fix almost any piece of machinery and had great knowledge of both Terran and Protoss machines. When the Protoss first invaded the Colonial space, her home world was the second one to be conquered. Since this was the first time the Protoss had come into contact with something other than the Zerg they did not wipe the planet clean. Instead they mingled among the inhabitants and learned all they could. Click had grown up around Protoss equipment, so when she finally left the planet the Colonial Intelligence had snapped her up like a shark attacking a wounded fish. She was then taken to various battlefields to help in the fight against the Protoss. This was not something she enjoyed so when the chance came to join the Marines and fight the Zerg she took full advantage of it. Now she sat on a drop ship heading toward what seemed like certain doom.

Keith returned himself to the present and listened to the end of Phantom's speech.

"Keep your wits about you and don't waste your ammo. This is all we're going to get and I want every one of us to make it back out."

The crackling com fell silent as Phantom let each member of the squad take in those last few sentences.

"This is the finest squad of men I've ever seen. We will accomplish our mission objectives and make it out. Proving the assholes at the top that we, and our company, are worthy of fighting on the frontlines."

The men let out a ragged cheer at those words and then lapsed into thoughtful silence. Thinking of what might be their last moments alive.

The drop ships' intercom crackled to life as the pilot announced that they were 30 seconds out from the drop point.

Phantom's voice came over the squads' commlinks once more, "Time to saddle up boys."

The cocking of rifles was drowned out by the roar of the drop ships' engines as they slowed the large craft down. Then all of a sudden Keith felt himself drop like a rock. His stomach was still hanging somewhere up in the upper reaches of the atmosphere when the drop ship started to weave violently back and forth. Then all of a sudden the drop ship pitched up on its side and there was sickening crunch. The Marines were all thrown against the harnesses of their chairs and debris went flying through the air. There was a faint whistling the started to grow louder as the ship plummeted down through the turbulent atmosphere of the planet.

Phantom was yelling into the ships intercom with no results, either the ship wide communications system was down or the cockpit had been hit. No one wanted to think about that last part because if it was true, then they were currently sitting in a large metal coffin. All of a sudden the whistling stopped and everyone sat in complete silence, then a loud shriek rattled them to their bones. It sounded like the drop ship was grinding against rocks. The out of control drop ship was barreling through the mountains like a runaway freight train. The Marine sitting across from Keith was silently praying to whatever god he held dear to save him from dying in a tin can.

Then there was another crunching noise and everyone was thrown against their restraints again, except that Peaths' could not hold his massive weight and he went flying against the forward bulkhead. Suddenly everything stopped moving. No one knew what had happened, but Phantom was instantly shouting orders. All the Marines slapped the release button for the restraints, grabbed their rifles and headed toward the cargo hatch.

They had to use the emergency release button to open the hatch but when it finally got open they poured out around the mangled drop ship. Phantom was yelling orders at such a fast pace that Click missed one and ended up running into Old Man who had his arms full of supply rations. Finally the drop ship was secure and everyone had everything they needed; now it was time to set out on the mission.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As the squad headed out Keith noticed an acrid smell in the air. He was wondering what it was when Phear sidled up next to him and answered his question before he even had a chance to ask it.

"That is burnt ozone, the smell comes from the Protoss Dragoons' firing their particle cannons," came the whispered answer to his unasked question.

Keith glanced quickly over at the former Ghost but he could not read the emotionless face. Looking at that stoic face gave Keith the shivers, so he increased his pace a bit to catch up with Durk.

"Hey Durk what exactly are the mission objectives?" asked the inquisitive Keith.

Durk glanced at the kid out of the corner of his eye and replied in his gruff voice.

"Don't know kid. The only one who does is that man walking up in front, leading this sorry bunch of marines."

Keith let out a sigh and continued walking along with the now thoughtful Durk. Having been on his fair share of missions, Durk could understand how the kid was feeling. In fact he could remember his first mission and how he didn't find out the mission objectives until they were hip deep in Zerg. He was hoping that would not happen this time around and that Phantom had enough faith in his people to release that information before they encountered the enemy.

The comlinks crackled to life as Phantom called for Phear to come join him at the front of the staggered line of Marines. As Phear jogged past, Keith shot a glance at the enigmatic person. He was still a little off balance because of the way Phear had seemed to read his mind earlier.

"Don't let him bother you kid," came the gruff voice from Durk.

"He's seen more things in this universe than even our illustrious leader has. Those things have scarred him mentally and left lasting impressions in the deep recesses of his subconscious."

Keith was once more surprised by one of his squad mates. That was the most thoughtful thing he had every heard come from the fatherly figure. This should have not surprised him, but he thought that the people chosen for this particular mission were not high up on the mental ladder. The only exception was Phantom, their squad leader, who seemed to have the mental know-how of a rocket scientist.

Lost in his thoughts he did not see the hand signal that told the group to stop. He came back to reality when he was violently yanked into the huddle by the mammoth Peath. Keith glanced around at the assembled marines and realized that everyone was staring at him.

"Sorry" he mumbled and snapped to attention when Phantom started speaking.

"Alright men, it's time to tell you what are mission objectives are and how we are going to accomplish them."

The following is the briefing that Squad Leader Phantom gave to his troops. It was recorded using the helmet recorder that Comm. Officer Chelbe was equipped with:

"Alright troops our objectives are extremely classified, that is why you are only now hearing them. Hold all questions till the end, got that Keith?"

"Our first objective is to map out the Protoss' base and find any weaknesses. This is supposedly because our Protoss allies want to reinforce it so they can hold off the Zerg longer. The next objective is to break into the Protoss prison and liberate a scientist. Don't ask my why; your job is to just understand orders. Our final objective is to cause as much damage to the Zerg colony as we can before we get our asses off this god forsaken rock. Does everyone understand?"

A chorus of yes sirs answered his question.

Phantom looked over the assembled marines in front of him and couldn't help but grin.

"This is the best bunch of men I've ever had the chance to work with. Let's show the bastards how good we are."

The hooting and cheering that followed that statement would have alerted the Protoss and Zerg fighting about a quarter mile away if it hadn't been for the sudden roaring of Protoss Scout ships as they went screaming into the carnage. A crackling came over the comm. system of the suits as Phear reported on what he was currently seeing from his vantage point in the cliffs.

"….S..ir…th..is is Phear reporting in. I see the Protoss base and the massive amounts of Zerg mutants surrounding it. Our best chance in is to come from the cliffs where I am. That way we can avoid the photon turrets and get past the Zerg."

"Good work Phear. Stay where you are and the rest of us will join you in a second."

The squad looked around at each other, expecting to see nervousness or even fear, but there was none of this. Not even Keith was afraid, he was eagerly awaiting his first encounter with the hated Zerg and powerful Protoss.

"Alright men, I'm going to separate us into teams. The first team is going to consist of me and Old Man over there. The next team is going to be Click and Phear and then I'm putting Rodri and the kid in another. Peath you and Fort go together."

There was a bit of confusion as each partner found the other, but when everyone was settled in Phantom continued to give out instructions.

"Click, you and Phear are to stay up in the cliffs out of sight and keep in constant contact with the rest of the squad. You two are going to be our eyes and ears out here and I'll need you to relay the command to come pick us up when the mission objectives have been completed."

"Yes sir," was the curt reply from the only woman of the group.

Phantom led the squad up to Phears' position at the top of the cliff face. From here the squad could see the Protoss base as well as the hordes of Zerg surrounding it on three sides. The fourth side consisted of the cliffs that the squad was currently standing on. Phantom gave some last minute orders before everyone headed out.

"Rodri, you and the kid are going to be mapping out the Protoss' base. Old Man and I will be liberating the scientists and Peath and Fort will be causing as much chaos as they can. Rodri stay here until Peath and Fort have started their destruction, then head down to the base. Follow the path I'm going to be taking and you should get in okay."

"Alright men, lets head out."

Phantom and the Old Man headed started down the cliff face, with Peath and Fort following a couple of metres behind them. Keith could not help the foreboding feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach as he watched the men make their way down the cliff.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The two other teams had been gone for about ten minutes when Rodri nudged Keith.

"It's time to go my friend," he said in a slightly nasally voice.

Keith grabbed his rifle and the mapping equipment and followed Rodri down the hill. From behind them came a whispered good luck.

We'll certainly need luck if we hope to accomplish this mission Keith thought to himself.

As they neared the perimeter of the Protoss' base he heard the crackle of energy weapons and the screams of the alien Zerg. The area around the base was pocked marked from all the explosions that had taken many Zerg and Protoss lives. Fortunately they did not run into any wandering Zerg patrols and made it to the perimeter fence unmolested.

Keith looked at the 10 foot high fence and wondered how they were ever going to get through to the base beyond. His answer was not long in coming as the section of fence they were standing in front of collapsed onto itself. Apparently it had been weakened by the numerous Zerg assaults and was just barely holding on. All it took was one little hit from Rodri to knock it down.

The ground on the other side of the fence looked like it had never been touched by the vile Zerg or felt the touch of a plasma blast. It was unbroken, smooth, and covered in green. Everything else on the planet was barren rock and bland desert, yet before them stood blossoming plant life.

"Be careful around those plants, we don't know what the Protoss could have done to them," came the whispered warning from Rodri.

Keith cautiously took a step into the green growth and when nothing happened he continued blazing a path through the rampant plant life. Half way in they suddenly came to a wall. This was not an ordinary wall. It was a slightly transparent blue and had odd pulsating bulges in it. Keith grabbed a stick from the ground and poked the thing in front of him. It immediately started making high pitched squealing noises and shooting an acidic liquid at the offending object. Keith had to jump back or risk being squirted with the nasty crap.

Keith looked over at Rodri, "Guess we won't be going that way."

The two of them looked for another direction to proceed when a faint whining noise hit their ears. It was coming from the direction of the main battle and only got louder. Keith looked up and saw a flaming Mutalisk heading straight for them. He grabbed Rodri and ran back the way they had come. Behind them the Mutalisk crashed into the wall with a loud squelching noise and kicked up dust and dirt. As the two men picked themselves up off the ground they glanced around them. The verdant forest was in tatters and covered with Zerg slime. The one good thing that had come from the crash was that the way was clear. They could now proceed into the Protoss' base and continue with their mission.

Keith went over and picked his pack off the ground from where it had landed after the explosion. Opening it he pulled out the flyer that would help them map the base and its defenses. Rodri walked over to the gap that had been opened up in the garden wall and glanced around the Protoss compound.

"Doesn't look like anyone's home right now."

"That's only because they're at the walls fighting the Zerg," replied Keith.

Keith glanced up at Rodri slouching against the garden wall. He realized that Rodri was frightened and didn't know what to do. Sighing he turned back to the little flyer and finished calibrating it so that it would take accurate pictures of the compound. All of a sudden they heard a muffled thump in the distance. Across the compound from where they were currently sitting a plume of smoke rose into the air. The bad feeling suddenly came back and settled like a leaden weight in his stomach.

The flyer gave two small beeps to confirm that it had been calibrated correctly. Keith started it up and sent it flying away into the air. The flyer completed two passes of the garden and then went shooting across the compound toward the plume of smoke.

"It won't be done for another fifteen minutes," remarked Keith. "Let's go see if we can't find Peath or Fort and help them out."

Rodri glanced at his partner and grunted an affirmative. The two headed out of the destroyed garden toward the plume of smoke. They hadn't gone more than twenty feet when an explosion flung them onto their backs. Keith rolled onto his stomach to try to get his legs underneath him and stop the world from spinning. He glanced up in time to see a squadron of Zerg Guardians flying into the murky cloud cover. It seems that the Zerg had managed to grow a Greater Spire. This would make things much more difficult for the defending forces.

Keith grabbed his pack and his rifle and looked around for Rodri. He saw his pack laying a few feet away but of the marine himself, nothing. Keith finally got his legs underneath him and stood up, looking at the crater left behind by the Zerg Guardians. As he got closer to Rodri's pack he noticed a charred smell in the air; it smelled of burning flesh. This left him feeling unsettled and he reached down to grab Rodri's pack. When he hefted it up he discovered Rodri's head underneath it.

Keith stared in astonishment at the helmet and the only remaining part of his teammate. The expression on Rodri's face was one of surprise and terror. Of course anyone would be surprised if they suddenly found themselves without a body. There was nothing Keith could do for his teammate so he kicked the helmet and its gruesome contents into the hole and buried it. He felt bad about leaving the remains here but he did not have time worry about getting a head out of the battle zone in one piece.

The sky was starting to darken in the east and Keith knew he had to continue his mission. He was now by himself in the middle of a deadly conflict. Not sure what to do he started walking in the direction he had been going before the explosion. To his right rose a large pyramid shaped building. This he knew to be the Nexus, the central building to all of the Protoss compounds. Suddenly, interrupting his thoughts, the helmet's commlink crackled to life.

"You might want to head to your right boy. Our commander could use some help."

Keith glanced back toward the cliffs. A chill ran down his spine as he thought of the person who was watching him, but he followed Phear's instructions.


End file.
